Improved roller for trunks and boxes



UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IV. T. MERSEREAU, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVED .ROLLER FOR. TRUNKS AND BOXES.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,414, dated August 4, 1863.

T0 all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, W. T. MERSEREAU, of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented, made, and applied to use a new and improved roller for attachment to trunks and boxes to facilitate the moving and transportation of the same; and I do declare the following to bc a full, clear, and correct description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which- Figure I is a side view of my improved roller when the same is to be attached upon the side of a trunk or box; Fig. 2, an end view of the same; Fig. 3, a view of my improved roller when attached to the bottom of a trunk or box; Fig. 4, an end View ofthe same; Fig. 5, a view showing my improved roller attached to the corner of a trunk or box.

In the drawings like parts of the invention are designated by the same letters of reference.

The nature of my invention consists in the construction and operation of an improved roller for attachment to trunks and boxes, to facilitate the moving and transportation otl the same, as hereinafter fully described.

To enable those skilled in the arts to make and use my invention, I will describe its construction and operation.

A shows a plate of metal provided with the projecting ears a a, and B shows a like plate of metal provided with the projecting ears b b, the ears b b of the plate B being made to fit within the ears a a of the plate A.

C shows the roller, and D is the journal upon which the roller C revolves.

The ears b b of the plate B are tted snugly within the ears a t of the plate A, and the roller C is placed between the ears b b.

Through the plates A and B and roller C a hole is drilled, which admits the journal D to attach the plates A and B and roller C together, forming as it were a hinge, with the roller C playing freely in the joint of said hinge. Thus, the two parts A and B, forming the roller-support, may be turned freely to and from each other to allow of its being attached either to a plane surface or to surfaces haring an angle, no matter how great an angle such surlaces may present.

My invention differs essentially from the invention patented by Leonard S. Manning, November 27,1855, in which invention the roller-supports are stationary and require that the sides of the trunk or box to which it (the invention) is attached shall be iiush with each other; hence, in many cases the Manning roller is useless.

My invention possesses the advantages of strength of construction and of durability in a greater degree than the inventions of either Manning or Gifting, inasmuch as the journal D passes through four openings in my invention, instead ot' two openings in the other cases cited, thus greatly strengthening the article in its most important part and allowing one or both of the projecting ears to be broken without destroying the efficiency of the article, as must be the case in the inventions above mentioned, should the same result be produced.

Disclaiming the. construction of any of the separate parts of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In combination with the plates A and B, constructed as shown, the use or employment of the roller G and journal D, for the purpose substantially set forth.

WM. T. MERSEREAU. In presence ofv A. SIDNEY DoANE, I. PAUGE. 

